The doctrine of repair and reconstruction in

United States patent law Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limited ...

distinguishes between permissible repair of a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

ed article, which the right of an owner of property to preserve its utility and operability guarantees, and impermissible reconstruction of a patented article, which is

patent infringement Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may v ...

. The doctrine is explained in ''

Aro Mfg. Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co. ''Aro Manufacturing Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co.'', 365 U.S. 336 (1961), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court redefined the U.S. patent law doctrine of repair and reconstruction. The decision is sometimes referred to a ...

'' The ''Aro'' case states the rule in these terms:

The decisions of this Court require the conclusion that reconstruction of a patented entity, unpatented elements, is limited to such a true reconstruction of the entity as to "in fact make a new article," after the entity, viewed as a whole, has become spent. In order to call the monopoly, conferred by the patent grant, into play for a second time, it must, indeed, be a second creation of the patented entity. …Mere replacement of individual unpatented parts, one at a time, whether of the same part repeatedly or different parts successively, is no more than the lawful right of the owner to repair his property.

An extension of the doctrine is a right to modify the product to enhance its functionality, such as to make it operate faster or with a different size of product. The Supreme Court said in '' Wilbur-Ellis Co. v. Kuther''377 U.S. 422 (1964). that such a right was "kin to repair for it bore on the useful capacity of the old combination, on which the royalty had been paid." The House of Lords declared a similar principle—the

doctrine of non-derogation from grants The doctrine of non-derogation from grants is a principle of the law of England and Wales. As the House of Lords explained in '' British Leyland Motor Corp. v. Armstrong Patents Co.'', it states that a seller of realty or goods is not permitted to ...

—concerning car owners' repair and replacement of automobile parts, in ''

British Leyland Motor Corp. v. Armstrong Patents Co. ''British Leyland Motor Corp. v Armstrong Patents Co.'' is a 1986 decision of the House of Lords concerning the doctrine of non-derogation from grants. This doctrine is comparable to, but somewhat broader than, the doctrine of legal estoppel, a ...

References

Legal doctrines and principles United States patent law Right to Repair {{US-law-stub